Features

It started in Croydon, was influenced by Jamaican dub culture and British dance music from rave to jungle and now it's the most exciting music on the planet. So what's all the fuss about dubstep? Emma Warren takes you on a tour.

Digital Mystikz's bi-monthly night in Brixton. Bristol DJ and scene stalwart Pinch has just finished a set of stripped down, ultra-tight dubstep that managed to evoke ten tonnes of soul without going within ten paces of an obvious melody. Or in fact any melody. The club is dark, smoky, intense and loud, empty cans of Red Stripe on the floor. It isn't just loud, it's seriously loud, physically loud. All you need to do is to wait for that drop and waboooom! the sound travels through you, rattling all the usual places (up the nose, through the chest) and some new ones (behind the cheekbones). This is dmz. It's as good an introduction as any to the dizzying, hyper-creative, ultra-rich world of dubstep.

The music scene, which grew out of a suburban dark garage offshoot from UK garage ? we're talking producers like Wookie and El-B rather than the glossy soul-pop of acts like SFA and Shanks and Bigfoot ? is in serious ascent. But this is no overnight sensation. Dubstep has been growing and evolving since the early 2000s, run by obsessives and sonic pioneers who preferred small steps to more commercially-viable giant steps. It's no coincidence that releases on dmz's eponymous ? and highly recommended ? record label bear the slogan 'built by...'.

This is music and culture as construction, where strong foundations have created a broad, powerful scene that happily encompasses a world of different variations on the sound. There's the ambient nightscapes of the reclusive Burial, high-octane energy boosters from Skream or Benga, ultra-heavy bass monsters from Digital Mysitkz's Coki, Aphex Twin-does-dub from West Londoner Caspa ? and that's just for starters. "Love it or hate it," says dmz's charismatic MC, Sgt Pokes, "there's a community vibe about this scene. It's not about hype. It's simple: we do a dance. Come down."

Tom Peveralist runs Rooted Records in Bristol, produces as The Peveralist and also runs the Punch Drunk label. He sees dubstep as part of a continuum. "It feels like Dubstep carries the legacy of Jungle ? sound system culture, bass culture and dubplate culture, and that's exciting. It's fresh and underground. It seems to transcend age and genre boundaries. There's something for everyone in Dubstep for sure."

It's also refreshingly open to newcomers, although there's a respect and protection for people who have done their graft in the scene. Dmz, for example, refuse to repress the first two releases on their label. "We won't repress them," says producer, DJ and co-founder Mala. "Why? Because they were out when they were out. If you weren't there, you weren't there. It's special for the people who were." As with jungle and reggae before it, much of the music remains unreleased and tunes are played for months until they're made available to the massive, just as happened in Jamaica. But some do make it to the shops ? bmsoho (previously known as Blackmarket) or online shops like boomkat, rooted and dubplate.net. Once they've gone, they've gone.

In truth, you can't really say you've heard dubstep until you've heard it in context, at a dance. If you can't reach dmz in Brixton there's always their bi-monthly night with Iration Steppas at the West Indian Centre in Leeds where the speakers are so powerful they can almost literally blow you away and where one unlucky dubsteppah suffered a perforated eardrum. London's weekly night FWD>>, which makes the most of Plastic People's awesome soundsystem, is a dubstep essential, although visitors should be warned that one visit can be enough to kickstart a quite serious addiction.

The dubstep nation is also starting to register on the mainstream radar. The initial tipping point was back in January 2006 when Radio One's Mary Anne Hobbs showcased the best DJs, producers and MCs in a specially-titled show, Warrior Dubz ? which was so popular they turned it into a well-received compilation album and like Burial's critically acclaimed self-titled LP, sold well. It's also spreading internationally, thanks to the internet. "I expect I think the global scene is great, the more the merrier," says Tom Peveralist. "As long as there is diversity and innovation, the music will continue to be exciting". Big steps, small steps ? it's all dubstep.